Web whiz kid

Zach Marks, just 13, has started his own social media site, which already has more than 100,000 users. Meet the man (um, boy) behind Gromsocial.com.

Extraordinary dreams can spawn extraordinary results, and for the past two years, Florida resident Zach Marks has been dreaming and achieving big.

Really big.

Zach has developed an online social media website called Grom Social. The site is similar to Facebook, but is made “by kids, for kids,” intended for ages 5 through 16.

On Grom, users can connect with other friends, play games, find cool DIY crafts, watch “Grom Spot” videos Zach and his family make and read articles about sports, gaming, entertainment and so much more.

The difference between Grom and Facebook is Grom is monitored by parents 24/7 and requires parental approval to participate. It already has more than 100,000 users from 201 different countries and is still growing.

Fun fact: Zach Marks is 13 years old.

Grom launched in 2012 after Zach’s parents exiled him from Facebook (twice). The second time it happened, Zach confidently told his dad he was going to build his own website, and from then on, he dove headfirst into the creation of Grom.

He took matters into his own hands, calling on one of his dad’s friends who is very involved in the graphics field. The friend was blown away by his ambitions, but as Zach kept elaborating on it, he began to spend more and more of his free time on the phone with Zach helping him form the site. He believed strongly in the concept of Grom, which focuses on the social responsibilities of kids. These include saying No to Drugs, No to Bullies and No to Smoking.

Two world-renowned game designers, Brenda and John Romero, joined the Grom team to provide expertise for Grom video games. In a meeting between the two families, John and Zach immediately clicked. This led to their involvement in the development of a 3-D game that will be incorporated into Florida Virtual School, the online school Zach and his siblings attend.

Grom was lucky enough to partner with MTV2, where Zach himself will be featured on a 30-minute episode of a new show, “Jobs That Don’t Suck.” Animal Planet’s “Tanked” has also partnered with Grom, along with the National Scholastic Surfing Association.

This year, Zach received the Spirit of Excellence award from his school. This coveted prize goes to a student who “inspires others to innovate and create spaces that transform lives.” He beat out more than 2.2 million kids and presented Grom in front of 2,000 people — certainly a task no ordinary 13-year-old could perform.

But according to Zach, he would not be where he is without the help of his brothers and sisters. Luke, his older brother (ranked in the top five surfers in the world under 15), gave Zach $2,500 to jump-start Grom. His younger sister, Caroline, also just as impressive, is the youngest girl on the USA Surf Team. Zach says their travels for competitions have sparked ideas for the website, so even when they’re not home, they are still involved with Grom.

Each member of the Marks family has his or her own character called “Gromatars” on the site, and they can chat and interact with Grom users around the world. At least one of the family members is almost always signed on, and some users even wait for a specific family member to sign on so they can talk to them!

Zach says kids have told him they do school projects on him, and he is just amazed at the effect he is having on some people.

But Grom users aren’t the only ones benefiting from the site.

The Children’s Hunger Project is one of the charities Grom has decided to help. It is a nonprofit charity that works to provide food to a portion of the 17 percent of children in the United States who go home from school on Friday and will not eat a meal again until Monday. In a town near the Marks’ house in Florida, the rate jumps to 50 percent.

That’s where Mr. and Mrs. Marks’ passion lies: helping those who cannot help themselves. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, but it’s heartbreaking to think about all the children who didn’t have any kind of dinner, let alone a turkey feast with their families. Help Grom help those children by donating at www.thechildrenshungerproject.org.

Grom Social is a company that is not only striving to make social networking safe for kids, it is working to pay it forward.

Concluding my interview with Zach and his father, the CEO of Grom, I asked Mr. Marks what he had learned from his son and the entire experience.

“I think that he’s inspired me; I’m a hard worker and I grind it out and take baby steps,” he told me. “But he has big dreams and big ideas. He thinks on a different level ... and he did it!”

And so he has.

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